WhatsApp on Android has received a new update which should make it easier for users to find whether a message is self-composed or is being forwarded from another group message.
After Facebook became a place for fake news and fraudulent shared links, WhatsApp is where all the spam lies. The average user has no idea whether the things they see in a group is legit or being shared to create chaos in whichever country he or she lives. While introducing a new tag that has the quote “forward message” on top of it may not immediately stop spam, it does give users an idea that whatever they are reading is actually distributed possibly on multiple channels.
According to a tweet by WABetaInfo, a fan site that tracks the future WhatsApp updates and changes, WhatsApp is testing the Forwarded Message feature that will show the forwarded message string on the bubble if the message has been forwarded from a different chat or the same chat.
The new feature on WhatsApp is still in its beta stage as like many other features that were eventually rolled out in the past. Facebook, the company that now owns WhatsApp is facing a whole lot of criticism for not checking the source of news before making it public to millions of users. The messaging app may not face such issues because it doesn’t promote any news stories or sponsor content. A social media website is very different compared to a texting app.
Users know that WhatsApp is meant for one to one communication but the ability to create groups had led to lots of rumours and fake news being shared on the platform repeatedly. The development team is making its progress towards creating a safer environment for their users and adding the forward message transparent quote on those messages automatically is the first step towards building a spam-free messaging environment.
The tweet posted by WABetaInfo reads, "The new "Forwarded Message" feature notifies you or the recipient that the message has been forwarded. It is NOT about SPAM! "Forwarded message" will appear if the message has been forwarded at least once. [AVAILABLE IN FUTURE]". But there is no information on when this feature will be rolled out to the users or the beta version in which this message is being tested.
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